During the last full trading day of 2014 , the FTSE 100 UKX, -1.30% fell 1.3% to close at 6,547.00 in lower-than-usual volume ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday. The index on Monday marked its eighth consecutive day of rises, the longest string of wins since February, according to FactSet data.
The heavily weighted oil and gas group fell more than 2% on Tuesday, with shares of BG Group PLC BG., -2.37% down 2.4%, Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDSB, -1.99% lower by 2% and Tullow Oil PLC TLW, -1.63% off 1.6%.
Those moves came as oil prices wavered after hitting fresh multi-year lows ahead of the release of weekly U.S. oil-inventory data. Oversupply concerns have contributed to shoving oil prices down by roughly 50% since June. February Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange LCOG5, -0.83% traded below $58 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures for February delivery CLG5, -0.06% came off session lows.
Weakness in commodity prices have resulted in the mining and energy sectors taking significant hits this year “and explains why of all the major benchmarks the FTSE 100 has underperformed its global peers, and once again frustrated those forecasters who predicted we would surpass 7,000 this year,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, in a report Tuesday.
The FTSE 100 was facing a yearly loss of 3%, its first yearly decline since 2011.
Only seven stocks were higher on the FTSE 100 Tuesday. Next PLC NXT, +3.22% was the best performer, rising 3.2% after the apparel and accessories retailer said sales rose 2.9% in the runup to Christmas, toward the upper end of its fourth-quarter sales outlook. Next now plans to pay a special dividend of 50 pence a share on Feb. 2.
